Money and insurance
Your card's travel insurance: when it's enough and when it's a trap
Many cards include travel insurance, and nearly all of them with one condition people break without knowing. How to check whether yours covers you.
Tomás Berruezo 5 min Photo by Fabian Kühne on Unsplash It is the same conversation before every trip: I'm not buying insurance because my card already has it. Sometimes that is true and it works out. Other times the policy exists, it is a good one, and it doesn't kick in over a detail.
The condition people break without knowing
Most of these policies require the TRIP to have been paid for with that card, and sometimes in full: the flights, or the whole package. If you paid for the flight with another card or with points, the cover may not apply.
It is the small print that decides most cases, and it takes one phone call to the bank to check.
The other four things to check
- How many consecutive days it covers, because many have a per-trip cap.
- Whether it covers travel companions or only the cardholder.
- What the limits on medical assistance are and whether repatriation is included.
- Whether it covers cancellation, which is the cover they least often carry and the one most used.
How to check it properly
Ask your bank for the full policy wording for the insurance attached to your card, in writing. Not the two-page marketing sheet: the long document. And if you are going somewhere with expensive healthcare, look at the medical assistance limit before anything else.
Insurance that doesn't kick in because you paid for the flight with another card is exactly as useful as having none.
When it is enough
For a short trip within an area where your public health cover still works, and with no risky activities, it is often enough. For destinations with expensive healthcare, long trips, trips with children or with activities, buy a policy separately and don't argue about it.
The exclusions to look for in any policy are in what travel insurance really covers.
Frequently asked questions
Is my card's travel insurance enough?
It depends. Most require the trip to have been paid for with that card, have a per-trip day cap and medical assistance limits worth looking at.
Does it cover my family?
Some do and some only the cardholder. It is one of the four things to check in the policy wording.
Does it include cancellation?
It tends to be the cover they least often carry, and one of the most used. Check for it explicitly.
How do I check?
By asking your bank for the full policy wording in writing, not the marketing sheet.
